


If You Sing These Words, We'll Never Die

by rivlee



Category: Band of Brothers, The Pacific - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Space, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-24
Updated: 2012-05-24
Packaged: 2017-11-05 22:46:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/411850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivlee/pseuds/rivlee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frank Perconte’s typical life as a space thief is about to take a turn for the different.</p>
<p>Written for Fic for Victory 2012</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [uniformly](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=uniformly).



> **Disclaimer** : No profit is made, harm or offense is attended. Title from My Chemical Romance’s _Save Yourself, I’ll Hold Them Back_.

Frank Perconte was a man who knew how to acquire things. Intel, credits, weapons, pass pills, artifacts, forged ship manifests, airspace clearance, even a ship decent enough to stay in the air. He wasn’t a legend yet, not like Vest, the fence and fixer who was at the top of the Corporation’s watch list. The Corporation owned the world, but Perco and his co-workers were fighting to take it back.

He wasn’t a legend, but Perco had made a name for himself among his fellow space smugglers and criminals. Theirs was an underground that spanned the galaxy and they protected their own, even if it meant going to the darkest edges of the boundary border planets. 

Patrick O’Keefe was a newbie to their world. Fresh out of the capitol at Ivy City, his family fell on hard times when his dad refused to take the fall for some Councilman’s fuck up with the Corporation’s budget. It was a hell of a transition to make, going from the sleekness and modernization of Ivy City to the backwater wasteland that was Serafina, Satellite 101, but O’Keefe still held on to that fresh blush of innocence, naiveté, and adventure. 

Perco just couldn’t help but see an untried young kid who should not be here. Their way of life wasn’t easy. He’d lost count of how many kids had stumbled through their door, brought into the fold by Roe and Spina who helped smuggle them out of god-knows-where through the medical transport. Overturn was high, and it usually wasn’t an early retirement that caused it. Perco couldn’t help but be protective of O’Keefe. The kid reminded him of the world outside, what it was like before the Corporation decided to try and burn all the satellite and border planets out. 

Revolution was always a hair-trigger from breaking out here and boys like O’Keefe? They’d be the first to die. Hell, half the people in their complex thought he was some high level spy. As if O’Keefe was even capable of lying. 

“I’m going to get him killed,” he said.

“Probably,” Jay De L’Eau agreed. 

Jay was much like O’Keefe, in the sense that he came from one of Ivy City’s richest families to ever downfall. He was highly educated and too damn smart for his own sense or good. Over the years he’d grown to be the very best at his job, rising to a journeyman in their ranks of thieves, con men, and spies. Perco was hoping that he’d take the offer and train O’Keefe to be just as resourceful, without all the ruthlessness. Jay had learned to shoot with little to no hesitation, growing out of a distaste for weapons and violence thanks to sheer necessity.

“You going to do this for me?” Perco asked.

Jay shrugged, his oversized jacket gaping at the back with his movements. “I know why you came to me and not J.P. You think I’ll see myself in the kid and try to make it easier for him.” He leaned forward, gesturing with one gloved hand. “I can’t do that for you Perco. No one used the kid gloves on me and that’s the only reason I’m still alive. This isn’t a game and your new boy? He needs to know that we’re talking about real risks and consequences in the most fatal sense of the words.”

“He’s got to learn to crawl before he can fly, Jay.”

He nodded in agreement. “Then you’ve got to take him to the Tripartite.”

Perco flinched. He’d been hoping to avoid that, but it looked like there was no choice.

“I better go wake the kid up.”

“Take Luz with you,” Jay offered. “He always manages to smooth things over.”

It was a good idea; one Perco would’ve stumbled across if he even had a half a brain right now. 

“Thanks, Jay.”

Jay just smiled and waved his hand, setting off the door sensor. Perco got the point and slid through the disarmed beams. 

*********************************

“Who are we seeing?” O’Keefe asked, leaning over the pilot seat.

“The Tripartite,” Luz said. “Jesus, Perco, does this kid know anything?”

Perco rolled his eyes and waited for the dock master to hail them. Traveling to Satellite 506 was a treat. There was no need to lie, forge, or steal clearance space. Johnny Martin always kept a docking port open for them.

The cabin filled with a beeping sound as they were finally hailed.

“Perco, is that your tiny, shot-up ass trying to get into my airspace?” Johnny asked.

Luz laughed out loud while Perco just shook his head and smiled. “How the hell are ya, Martin? I need to go see the Tripartite. You got some room in the inn?”

“Depends on what you brought me,”

“I’ve got Luz with me.”

“Hey, no selling my ass for a parking spot,” Luz said. “Christ, Johnny, we got a new meat with us. The kid’s probably going to piss his pants if you don’t let us land.”

“You think I take orders from you, George Luz.”

Luz smirked. “Depends on the order, doesn’t it?”

It was Johnny’s turn to laugh. “Oh, hell, Luz, what would this world do without you? Okay, you boys can land. We got some room at K-5. Try not to scrape the vault walls.”

“If Luz keeps his hands to himself this time,” Perco grumbled.

Luz held his hands up. “There was a bug.”

“On my lap?”

Luz solemnly nodded. “I swear to God, it was right there.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure, Luz,” Johnny said. “We all know you can’t keep your hands to yourself.”

O’Keefe made a strangled noise behind them, something between laughter and despair.

“You got a cat on there?” Johnny asked.

“Just the new kid wondering what he stumbled into a bit too late. See you later, Johnny-Boy.” Luz hit the button and cut off the communication. “I love that tiny man.”

Perco snorted. “He’s barely smaller than you and he _will_ kick your ass.”

“But I’m loveable. Everybody loves me, Winters said so.”

“Winters is one career move away from being a preacher man. He doesn’t count.”

“Who’s Winters?” O’Keefe asked.

“A man you will never meet unless it’s time to say hi to your maker,” Perco said as he landed the transport. “He’s a high level contact working for the Corporation’s biggest money rival, Nixon Network.”

“Isn’t that whole company declared illegal?” O’Keefe asked.

Luz laughed. “Yeah, but they won’t do shit. Lew Nixon knows too much and every time they attempt to shuffle him loose the mortal coil, he ends up inspiring revolutions. Nixon Network supplies damn near everything for the rebels. He can’t give an official sponsorship or protection, but he can drop names and intel. Hell, we owe this ship to him.”

“You’ve got years before you meet Winters or Nixon,” Perco said. He unbuckled the straps on his chair and stood up. He grabbed O’Keefe’s arms and dragged him behind Luz, walking to the exit doors. “They only deal with people like Vest and Speirs, the high-levels.”

“And Luz,” O’Keefe said, clearly starting to figure out the way of the world.

“Eh, what can I say, I get around.” Luz hit the panel to initiate their exit. “Come on boys, stand in the invisible box.”

“What?”

Perco pushed O’Keefe next to Luz. “Security system. Luz bought it off _The Vera_ ’s crew. I still think it’s a shitty practical joke.”

Luz waved his hand. The lights on the ship flashed and the screeching started. 

“Run,” he said.

O’Keefe ran after Luz, hands over his ears and managed to slide through the doors right as they started close. Perco, the smallest of the bunch took his time to slip out. There were few advantages to his stature, but not worrying about getting killed in the exit doors was high on the list of pros. 

“You _paid_ for that?” O’Keefe asked once they made it through the lock. He looked like he needed a stiff drink and a new pair of shorts.

Luz shrugged. “It’s effective.”

O’Keefe went quiet as they walked through the city streets. It always took a minute to adjust to planets with natural atmospheres. It wasn’t like the other satellites where everything, including the sunlight, was regulated and controlled; 506 was a satellite planet, one of the few that took to the terraforming project. The only shitty part of it was the climate. There was no such thing as a balmy summer breeze on 506, it was usually winter. 

“So, is the Tripartite a group, a building, or an institution?” O’Keefe asked. His lips trembled in the cold, his pale skin flushing red thanks to the icy wind.

“All three,” Luz said. He looked perfectly at home, like always. It’s what he did, slotting in anywhere and acting like he owned the place. 

“They run everything,” Perco said. “Nothing happens without Skip, Penk, and Malarkey’s knowledge or say-so. They’re the go-betweens. Skip’s the face; he deals with the legalese and the politicians. Greases the wheel so to speak. Think of him as the respectable one. Penk, he keeps everything in order. He’s the man who gives Vest his jobs and his reputation. Penk’s more the silent type.”

“And Malarkey?”

“Malarkey and his boys handle the more,” Luz paused in his explanation. “There’s not a nice way to say this, kid. Malarkey and his boys are the clean-up crew. They take the fatal and final actions.”

“They’re assassins,” O’Keefe said. He stopped walking. “You kill people.”

“ _We_ don’t, usually,” Perco said.

“It’s a living,” Luz said. “Someone has to do it. The Corporation’s got their people, and we’ve got ours. Malarkey and his boys, they just even the playing field. You ain’t in Kansas anymore, O’Keefe. Once you start this, there’s no clicking your heels and wishing for home.”

O’Keefe’s brow wrinkled at the reference. Perco tried not to roll his eyes. Luz considered himself a connoisseur of the Old World, spending all his free credits traveling the ‘verse for art festivals and shit.

“Ignore him,” Perco said. “He got lost in one of the archives as a toddler and thinks he learned everything by osmosis. Apparently it makes him hot shit to drop references older than the foundations of the Corporation.”

“You just don’t appreciate culture,” Luz argued. 

Perco rolled his eyes and decided it was better not to answer. O’Keefe already looked one more argument away from pissing his pants. 

Luz acted like a tour guide for O’Keefe as they walked through the city, getting closer and closer to the Aldbourne District. The streets started to get narrower, the buildings smaller, with the rising smell of mold and damp as they approached the Tripartite’s seat. Luz looked backed at him in concern when O’Keefe pulled his arms tighter across his chest and tried to make himself as small as possible.

“Christ, kid,” Luz said, “you better loosen up. These are your new co-workers and you’re making a hell of a first impression here. Stop acting like someone’s about to rob you. No one’s going to think you’re a narc if you’ve got Perco and me with you. They might think we’re trying to sell your virtue for some credits, but other than that no worries.”

O’Keefe didn’t look reassured at all. Especially not when Luz slapped him on the back.

“We’re here,” Perco said. 

O’Keefe looked at the depilated building, with its cracked windows and rotting door, in confusion.

“Isn’t it a little obvious as a place of illegal transactions,” he said.

“Not in this part of town. Most of these places hold the headquarters for some of the most important business this side of the boundary. Looks are deceiving and all that,” Luz said.

Perco nodded in agreement before preparing himself for the first of many security measures. He touched his hand to the broken metal panel next to the door and tried not to flinch at the warm burn of the scanner. 

He stood back as the door slid upwards, revealing the elevator to the next entrance.

“That was door number one, time for what’s behind number two,” Luz said.

Perco laughed and held out a finger for the needle and blood sample.

“So, fingerprints, blood, what’s next?” O’Keefe asked.

Perco waited to answer until they stepped inside the elevator. The doors closed and the cabin pressurized, before the eye scan came followed by the voice recognition prompt.

Luz smirked at O’Keefe’s gaping face when the doors slide open to reveal a receptionist desk and a row of seats.

“All of that just to get to a waiting room?” he asked.

“We take our security seriously here, Mr. O’Keefe,” Kitty Grogan said.

Kitty might’ve looked like your average office manager, but Perco knew she had at least four weapons at the ready, not counting the rigged explosives set throughout the room. 

“They ready to see us, Kits?” Luz asked.

“I need to take your new toy through the gauntlet first,” she said. She pushed back from her desk walking with the practiced pace of the trained solider. 

Kitty was barely over five feet tall but she was intimidating as hell. Perco could feel his back straighten as if she was calling them to attention. Luz did the same while O’Keefe kept looking between her and them. Perco wanted to give him some support, but Kitty was basically the first test.

“Come with me,” she ordered.

O’Keefe blanched but he followed her command, hurrying into the side room she pointed at. Kitty never let anyone walk behind her, a survival tactic after a bounty hunter tried to sell her to the Corporation. 

“Good luck, kid,” Luz yelled before the door slid shut.

“Fuck,” Perco muttered, his heart finally starting to slow down.

“How the hell does Kitty do that?” Luz asked.

Perco just shook his head and collapsed into one of the seats. If O’Keefe could get past Kitty’s inspection without actually breaking down, he might just survive.

****************************

O’Keefe was quiet after Kitty brought him back. He looked a little worse for wear but not permanently scarred. Perco patted him on the back. 

“Kitty’s uh, she’s a survivor of hell. The penal colony two moons over? She grew up on it. Comes from a long line of thieves, grifters, and fighters.”

“You could’ve mentioned that,” O’Keefe muttered.

“There’s no warning for her,” Luz said. He put down the tablet he’d swiped off Kitty’s desk. “She’s the watchdog for a reason. First tiny badass line of defense.”

“You have to go through this every single time?” 

“If we’re coming here, yeah. This is HQ, ground zero. This building has more people, intel, clandestine arrangements, and training grounds hidden in its cracks than some planets,” Perco explained.

“Don’t tell the new boy all the secrets yet,” Kitty said. She walked over to one of the hidden touch screens, disguised as a fish tank, and typed in a code. 

Perco and Luz both grabbed on to O’Keefe as the room started to move.

“What the fuck?” O’Keefe asked, scrambling to stay upright.

“You’re going to see the Tripartite,” Kitty said. “We’ve got to go up to the entrance level.”

“Why does it feel like we’re going down?” 

“Eh, some shit the engineers designed. It fucks with your brain. I don’t do the mechanical science technobabble,” Luz explained. He righted himself as they came to a stop, smoothing down his jacket and hair.

O’Keefe still held on to Perco’s arm. “Where the hell have you taken me,” he whispered.

Perco tried hard not to laugh. The experience was definitely showing O’Keefe’s less polite side.

“You’ll see,” he promised. 

The lights dimmed for a moment before one side of the room slid open to reveal the long hallway to the office.

“Good luck,” Kitty said, not so subtly shoving them out of the room.

It was hard not to flinch when the reception room descended to its original position, leaving them in the dark.

“You think they could get some lights in here,” Luz said. He walked at the head of their line and pounded on the door. “Someone could get hurt.”

“I don’t think they’re worried about their liability,” Perco said.

“No one likes lawyers, Perco,” Skip Muck said in greeting. He smiled at them, disarmingly charming as always. “Hey, guys, good to see you. A little late for your appointment, but our Kitty is always thorough.”

O’Keefe didn’t say anything just shuffled his feet and found the ground interesting.

“Don’t worry, O’Keefe, she’s had a handful of all of us. You only have to be worried if she threatens to break your balls off. Come on inside, Don’s put out the nice napkins.”

Luz pecked Skip on the cheek as he passed by, calling out to Penk and Malarkey.

“Thanks for seeing us, Muck,” Perco said.

Skip waved him off. “It’s not like it’s a hardship, Perco.” 

Perco nudged O’Keefe until he moved and walked into the office.

_Office_ really wasn’t the right word to describe the floor of the building where the Tripartite spent most of their working day. It was more a large multi-purpose room, one corner holding the kitchen, the other a training floor, with monitors and screens all around, constantly tracking information. 

Luz was already settled down with some of Malarkey’s crew near the training mats. Penky however, was over at one of the screens talking to the crew of _The Vera_.

“Christ, Chuckler, how many times do I have to tell you. Hoosier cannot have a dog on that ship,” Penk said.

“But, come on, Penky. He makes Hoosier happy.”

“He also raises red flags we don’t need in terms of contamination. Look, drop it off at Serafina. I’ll find it a good home. Now, you and your boys need to get that cache off Gloucester and bring it to Liebgott. Don’t forget your friggin’ rain boots this time.”

“Aye-aye, Captain,” Chuckler said before signing off.

“I’ll bet you fifty credits they’re going to get caught again,” Skip said.

“It’s not even worth a bet, since it’s a fact,” Penk said. He rubbed a hand through his hair. “Perco and the new blood here?”

“Right behind you, Alex,” Skip said.

Penky turned, his golden eyes catching in the artificial lighting streaming through the high windows. His face softened as he studied them. Penk was the best of the lot of them. He didn’t have Skip’s natural charm and daring, or Malarkey’s ability to draw everyone in with a sharp wit, but he did have an innate sense of warmth and kindness. He was too damn good for their business, but he kept all of them grounded. 

“Good to have you home, Frank. You going to introduce us?” he asked.

“Patrick O’Keefe, meet Skip Muck, Alex Penkala, and over there being a miserable bastard in the corner is Don Malarkey. The Tripartite, meet O’Keefe.”

O’Keefe awkwardly waved at them. “Hi, guys.”

“Christ,” Malarkey called, “where’d you get this one, Perco? Raiding the schools now?”

“I was the one who came to Perco,” O’Keefe.

That got the room’s attention.

“I’m sorry,” Skip said, “I think I just heard crazy talk.”

“Spina and Roe offered to take me to the medical colony, but I asked to meet Perco. My sister, Gwen, she always read about the boundary planets and saw his name pop up.”

“You volunteered for this shit?” Malarkey asked. He walked over to them and got right in O’Keefe’s face. “Are you really that fucking stupid?”

Perco had said pretty much the same thing when Roe dropped O’Keefe at his doorstep. Then he’d heard about the hows and whys of him and felt like a jackass.

He stepped in between the two. “Back up, Don. The kid’s like De L’eau, if you catch my drift.”

Malarkey stared at him, eyes boring into his own looking for something. Malarkey, for all his bad singing and dirty jokes, had a hell of an intuition about people. 

“Yeah, I caught it Perco. Let’s go upstairs, we need to talk.” He pointed at O’Keefe. “You stay here and follow Skip and Penk. You’ll be working for them anyway.”

O’Keefe defiantly titled his chin. “I’m not good enough for _you_?”

Malarkey laughed. “You’re not the murder-for-hire type, kiddo. That’s not a bad thing. Let’s just keep your gun-toting cherry unpopped for the time being. Now go play with the nice logistics men while me and Perco have a chat.”

O’Keefe knew when to shut the hell up and nodded at Malarkey’s order. He turned to Penkala, probably recognizing another quiet soul, and followed him over to one of the boards. 

He couldn’t help but glance over his shoulder as Malarkey dragged him up the stairs. The crew was down there and Grant, Babe, and McClung were evil when they smelled new meat. 

“Perco, pay attention,” Malarkey said as they stumbled on the stairs.

“Maybe I could if you gave me my arm back, Don.”

“I would if you stopped getting fucking distracted.” He knocked on the door to the security room.

“Come in,” a voice bid.

Malarkey opened the door and shoved him inside.

“Frank,” Skinny Sisk said with a smile. He put aside his keyboard and held out a hand. “How the hell are ya? Haven’t seen you since that incident in New Belgium.”

Perco took his hand and pulled him into a hug. “I still have blood on those trousers, you asshole.”

Skinny laughed. “I’m not sorry. You fucking dropped me.”

“Blame, Roe, he should know better than to use me as a crutch.”

Skinny shook his head. “We never blame Doc for anything. He’s magic.”

“Are you two done?” Malarkey asked.

Skinny pointed to their boss. “What the hell crawled up his ass?”

“I thought you were going to tell me.”

“I didn’t see anything on my screens,” Skinny said. He gestured to the floor-to-ceiling monitors that covered all of the Tripartite’s bases and current agents. 

“Skinny, go get a coffee. In fact,” Malarkey said as he tapped one of the security screens, “go get everyone a coffee. At Smokey’s.”

Perco felt his eyes widened at that. He must’ve fucked something up bad.

“An intergalactic coffee run, Boss? Really?” Skinny asked. He’d already pulled off his headset and grabbed his bag.

“I’m craving the hazelnut blend. Go on, go. Take Babe with you, he could use the fresh air.”

Skinny gave a small salute and walked off, patting Perco on the shoulder as he passed.

“Okay, what the hell did I do?” Perco asked once the door closed.

“It’s more about what you’re going to do,” Malarkey said. He took Skinny’s seat and tapped on one of the screens, bringing up the training floor below.

“I’m sorry, did you get mutant powers while I wasn’t looking? Since when can you predict the future?”

“Since it’s really fucking obvious you’re already hung-up on that Ivy City boy down there.”

Perco didn’t like being attacked. It brought out his inner-kid, bullied for being tiny and looking different from all the other kids on his colony. 

“He’s not Buck,” he said before he could even think about it.

Malarkey’s flared nostrils were the only indication of his anger. Buck Compton was one of those people no one talked about. He wasn’t quite dead to their crew, he cared for Malarkey in his own way, but he had still left the Tripartite and Nixon Networks. He’d left Don. He’d come from a charmed life and gone back to it, after a brief period of slumming with Malarkey. Buck wasn’t a bad guy, it was just hard as hell to live out here, so far removed. It wasn’t for everyone and Buck Compton was very much meant for something more civilized than the dirty, run-down border planets.

“I’m sorry, Don.”

Malarkey nodded. “I may have deserved that but it doesn’t change the truth. You’re invested in that kid, Perco. He looks and acts like a lightweight. I’ve spent less than five minutes with him and can already see he can’t do covert work.”

“The same could be said about Jay.”

“No, it couldn’t. Jay is amazingly self-aware. He knows how people expect him to act but that’s not who he is deep down. That rookie down there? He’s the greenest fucking thing I’ve seen since the last time I went to New Ireland.”

“You leading yourself up to a point somewhere here?”

“Are you going to be able to work with him?”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Malarkey shook his head. “You got a thing or two to learn about value and worth. Never thought I’d see the day when it came to you Perco. Could’ve sworn you were just going to hold out for Luz.”

“You’re talking stupid, Malarkey.”

“Whatever, Perco.” He shook his head. “You’re going to learn. Guess the hard way is the only chance we’ll have to get it through your thick skull.”

***************************

Skinny’s off planet coffee run took two days and brought back a gunslinger.

“I didn’t recall telling you to pick up a sniper,” Malarkey muttered into his cold cup.

Skinny shrugged. “He followed me home. What the hell was I supposed to do?”

Shifty Powers laughed from his seat next to Skip. He was one the finest marksman in the whole ‘verse. Shifty had worked with the Corporation for a few years, knew their ins and outs, but memories of home brought him back to the fold. After he saw the plans for the coal colonies, he left in an understated blaze of glory. There was a trillion credit bounty on his head but no one was going to turn Shifty in; they’d have to catch him first and no one, besides McClung, came close to matching Shifty in a gunfight. 

It was damn good to see Shifty again. He had a calming presence about him that took the tension out of everything. It was hard not to be assured about life when you had him watching your back.

“Shifty’s here to teach O’Brien how to shoot,” Malarkey said.

“O’Keefe,” Perco corrected. He was busy watching Chuck teaching O’Keefe how to fight. “Why the hell are you using Shifty?”

Shifty knew it wasn’t an insult to his skill or abilities. He shyly smiled, quietly self-assured as always. “Having only been here for an hour, I think it would be better for O’Keefe to learn with the rifle before moving to a pulse gun.”

“Really, not the other way?” Skip asked.

Shifty nodded. “He’s got a thing for observation. Even know, he’s got an ear cocked this way.” He pointed to the men on the mat. “He might not be the lying type, but you’d be a fool not to use him on covert ops to gather intel. O’Keefe looks just like the type of kids Corporation and Ivy City use to run errands. He looks out of place as hell to us, but we’ve got to think like Ivy City.”

“So, we really are making Jay all over again,” Penk said. 

Perco winced at the thought. He didn’t know if Jay had ever been really innocent, there was certainly a layer of bitterness and snark around him now. He didn’t want to see that happen to O’Keefe, see him lose that wonder for the world.

“Not right to compare the boys like that,” Shifty said, ever their wise man. “Jay was groomed to to be the heir to his family, he was raised to be ruthless and calculating. Patrick there, he was truly sheltered. Parents probably never expected him to do more than work in a corner cubicle at one of the big companies. Damn near travesty to see such talent wasted, I declare.”

“Aren’t you glad I went for coffee?” Skinny asked.

Skip and Malarkey both rolled their eyes in unison but Penkala openly laughed. 

Perco sighed. He didn’t know why he put up with the bastards on most days. At least they helped to pass the time in between jobs. 

 

***********************

“Perco, wake the fuck up.”

Perco squinted as he took in the artificial light of the Tripartite’s barracks. Floyd Talbert was leaning over him, looking equal parts annoyed and panicked.

“What the hell.”

“You need to get your ass up and dressed. We got to get off planet now.”

That woke him right up. He jumped off his bunk, feet slamming on the metal grating of the floor. 

“What happened?”

“Alley and Lieb got caught up in some shit. Dominguez is trying to get them out, but he needs back up. Luz and Skinny have already flown out.”

“What’s going on?” O’Keefe murmured from his bunk. His hair was disheveled and there were pillow creases deep in his face. He winced as he tried to sit up, sore muscles and bruises courtesy of Chuck’s relentless training.

“Who’s he?” Tab asked.

“Later,” Perco said. He tugged on his boots and dug out a shirt. Any other supplies would be in the ship’s kit. “O’Keefe, we got to go do a job.”

That woke him up. “What job?”

“We don’t have the time for this,” Tab said. He wasn’t quite yelling yet, but the urgency was increasing in his voice.

“Skip will explain in the morning. Go back to bed,” Perco ordered.

O’Keefe sleepily nodded. “Be safe.”

Perco didn’t bother to reply, since the kid was already curled up under the covers.

“You’ve got some talking to do,” Tab said.

“Later,” Perco repeated. 

They both waited until the doors to the barracks slid close before they broke off in a run. Luz and Skinny should’ve been able to unfuck most of the situation, but if Dominquez was calling in for even more reinforcements, something had seriously gone wrong.

Malarkey was waiting for them at the Tripartite’s personal docks.

“Roe and Spina will meet you there,” he said.

“Are they picking up a patient or a corpse?” Tab asked.

Malarkey shook his head. “I don’t know yet. Take the shipping lanes Nixon set up. Go as fast as you can, but try not to get the Corporation’s watchdogs up your ass. I’m sending Babe and McClung to clean up the mess, no matter what happens.”

Tab grabbed the tablet Malarkey held out with the mission parameters, hoping into the hatch. Perco lingered outside.

“About O’Keefe.”

“I’m not going to send the kid to his death already, Perco. I’m not one for wasting my money or resources like that. He’ll stay here and even if we all get called out, he can learn from Kitty. Don’t let yourself get distracted thinking about what’s going on back here. You’re going to have to bury it. Lieb and Alley need you, focus on them.”

Malarkey turned and marched back into the main building before Perco could say anything else.

Tab was already buckled down and starting the controls.

“Jesus, can I sit down first?” Perco asked.

“I’m starting to think you don’t understand what _urgent_ means, Perco. Tipper could be missing half his face by now and you’re worried about some kid whose biggest concern is if the hot water runs out?”

“No one said Tipper’s face was half blown off. Or that he was even on the mission.”

“Roe and Spina don’t fly out for paper-cuts, Perco.” He waved the tablet. “Penk put a more detailed explanation in here. I suggest you look it over. We’re going into a stand-off.”

“Not with the Corporation though, more forces would’ve been tapped.”

“Raiders from a third company that’s trying to take over the Nixon Networks lines. No proof yet that it’s an independent company funded by the Corporation. I’ve already sent messages out to _The Vera_ and Vest. I wouldn’t be surprised if Speirs is already on the satellite. He always gets involved in shit that’s not even under his purview.” 

Perco stayed quiet as they took off. The Tripartite’s ships had special clearance, and since Kitty was basically the dock master, there would be no chatting with Johnny Martin. There was no playful banter to calm the nerves and offset the churning of Perco’s gut. He braced himself as they passed through the artificial atmosphere of the satellite, scuttling through the open gate under Tab’s sure piloting.

“Tab,” he said, staring out in the vast expanse of space.

He looked up from his screen, face bathed in the blue-green light of the board. “Yeah, Perco?”

“I don’t have a good feeling about this.”

Tab smirked. He leaned over, patting his shoulder. “Don’t you worry, we’ll get you back to your boy. Maybe even with some spoils of war to boot. That is, if Speirs doesn’t clear out the whole planet first. I swear to god, he stole one of the satellite frontier planets just to store all his shit.”

Perco laughed, starting to feel better with Tab at his side. He still couldn’t let go of the bad feeling, his gut had saved his ass more than once, but there wasn’t much they could do now. He watched the stars as they passed and started to slip in the state of mind needed to deal with missions gone FUBAR.


	2. Two

The streets of the Carentan district looked like a war zone. That wasn’t too far from the truth, with the broken glass and half bombed out buildings. Everything was covered in ash, smoke, and blood. 

“It’s a damn good thing this is a mostly abandoned district minus the merch runners. We’d have a fucking galaxy-wide incident on our hands otherwise,” Liebgott bitched. He had one of Doc Roe’s healing patches attached to his skin and was trying to wash the dried blood off his face.

Perco wasn’t too happy that his formerly clean clothes were now covered with blood, brain matter, and mechanical fluid.

“What the fuck happened?” he asked.

Lieb shrugged. “I don’t fucking know, Perco. One minute Tipper was checking the store room and the next thing half the block fucking blew. Then these raiders came pouring in, one of ‘em threw that flash bomb practically in Alley’s face, and suddenly I’m here trying to keep our product secure and our asses alive. If Penk’s boys have any fucking clue what happened I’d like to know, because this bullshit stinks of an inside job. No one that’s not us comes to this district. _No one_.”

There was a loud commotion as Tab and Luz helped Roe and Spina with the portable healing pods. Both Alley and Tipper were already loaded up, in a medically-induced healing sleep. Perco thought most of the healing stuff was just as much magic as science; he never could get a straight answer about how those pods worked. 

“Remind me never to use them as pall bearers,” Lieb said.

Perco punched him in the arm. “Not the time, Joe.”

“Look, I get that it could’ve been a lot worse, but this shit just doesn’t sit right.”

“Malarkey agrees with you. I haven’t seen him that pissed off in about three years.”

Lieb’s lips twisted and he turned his head. It was a classic tell.

“What aren’t you saying?” 

“Look,” Lieb said, “if it wasn’t an inside job we’ve got to start looking at the people who know enough about us. It’s clearly not Roe or Spina, if they wanted to kills us, they’d do it in a much cleaner way. There are other people, on the fringes, outsiders who came in. We got to look at them.”

Perco knew what Lieb wasn’t saying, the name he wouldn’t speak. Hell, Malarkey probably already thought it. He just couldn’t see Buck doing this; it was too messy and gritty. It was an amateurish job done by people who knew enough to set explosives and shoot to wound, but it was still sloppy. You didn’t leave witnesses alive on a set-up like this one; you didn’t give them the chance of tracking you down or id’ing you. Buck knew that. And as much as Compton hated Nixon and his company, he couldn’t see him taking potshots at the Tripartite’s assets. 

“Hold your hands out boys,” John Julian said as he strolled up with a scanner.

“What the fuck is that for?” Lieb asked.

“Trying to trace the chemicals used to make the bombs. You’re covered in it Lieb, and Perco’s surely got some transfer. So, hands.”

“When’d you get upgraded to explosives expert?” Perco asked. Last he saw Julian, he was training with Malarkey’s boys.

Julian made a confused noise as he scrolled through the data he’d already collected.

“Skip stole him,” Lieb explained. “There was an incident that left him out of commission for a bit.”

“Took a phaser blast to the throat,” Julian said. He tilted his head back, showing the hint of a truly horrific scar. “Babe got me to Roe just in time. We both got our asses handed to us by Malarkey, but I like working with Skip, so it’s fine. You’d know that if you came home more, Perco.”

Perco scoffed. “My home’s on Serafina. You could stop by for a visit. Or did Daddy Muck take away your driving privileges?”

Julian glared at him, which accompanied by Lieb’s loud laugh told the truth.

“Scrapped up one of the ships, did ya?” he asked.

“It’s Guarnere’s fault. If he hadn’t been distracting me, I would’ve passed.”

“Wild Bill _is_ your piloting test, Julian,” Lieb said.

“Whatthefuckever, I don’t care. At least this way I don’t have to worry about piloting through space debris.” He tapped a few more buttons on his scanner and cursed.

“You got a problem there, Julian?”

“Yeah, the traces aren’t in the database. Which means we’re either getting some terraformed fertilizer explosions or a whole new test product. It’s organic, not synthetic, but fuck, man. I _really_ don’t want to tell Skip about this. He’ll make me tell Winters and then I’ll get that look of disappointment and it ain’t my fault.”

“Yo, ladies, you done with your coffee klatch,” Babe Heffron yelled as he walked up with McClung.

“Clean-up crew’s here,” Lieb said. “Thank fucking god, I can get some sleep now.”

Babe pointed to Lieb’s shoulder. “We’ll drop you off at Roe’s so he can take another look at that.”

“He said it’d be fine to heal on its own.”

“Let’s not take any chances,” Babe said.

“Christ, Lieb, just give him the excuse he needs to go stalk Roe,” McClung said. 

“Spina and Roe already carted off the dead and injured; there’s nothing here for you to cover up,” Perco said.

“We’re finishing the job. Razing it to the ground. Malarkey wants all traces of us gone in the quarter. We're keeping Tab, so you better run your little ass over to Dominguez and beg a ride off of him.”

“Dominquez will drop me off at some penal colony for laughs. I’ll help you guys. Someone’s going to need to get into the crawl spaces to set the detonators and it sure as hell won’t be Babe.”

“Why not?” Babe asked.

“Because you get stuck,” Julian said.

“All the fucking time,” Lieb agreed. 

“You all can fuck off,” Babe said. He gestured with the explosives kit in his hand. “Come on, Perco, let’s go.”

They worked silently to move out the product, this time contraband foodstuffs and plastics used to fake credits, with everyone’s help. Lieb bled over a box or two and Julian dropped a case on his foot, but all and all, it went off without a hitch. It was a decent end to a job gone completely sideways. Something still wasn’t right though. It was too quiet, even for this district, and it was causing an itch under Perco’s skin.

“You feel that,” he quietly asked McClung as they set the detonators.

“Yeah,” he said. “At least our watchdogs are going to get a light show.”

“Should we even be talking at this point?”

“Babe put on the scramblers before we even landed. To them we sound like Roe’s Cajun ancestors. They’re probably running five different algorithms to figure it out.”

He tried not to flinch, thinking about the fact there could very well be a whole armada lying in wait above Marina’s atmosphere.

It didn’t take them long to finish. McClung was mostly silent, and even Babe and Julian were quiet as they left Carentan. He waited until he was safely ensconced in Babe and McClung’s ship before he echoed Lieb’s concerns.

“Do you think Lieb’s right, that Compton’s behind this?”

No one answered as McClung set off the signal. They watched from the spherespace as it blew. There was no way the Corporation could ignore this move, but it was a gamble. Normally they were quieter, subtle, but the initial attack had already raised enough flags. Dragging the authorities out here might lead them to info on who set the attack. If the Corporation sent out their sentinel crews, that meant one of their lesser-known contracted companies wasn’t behind it. 

“I don’t know,” Babe finally said. He set a course for the closest medical outreach colony. “There have been rumors of a third power player cropping up. Penkala and Skinny are all over it, but so far no one’s really talking.”

The cabin grew quiet while Babe flew and McClung napped. Lieb and Julian were below deck sleeping the job off too. Perco sat back and watched the stars, all the while trying not to think about how much shit was going to rain down.

*****************************

Perco woke up in one of the empty hospital beds of the medical colony, the smell of antiseptic and cheap laundry detergent surrounding him. 

“Hey, Sleeping Ugly, nice to see you’ve joined the land of the living again.”

Ralph Spina threw a dentapack at him.

“I know how much you like a blindingly white smile.”

Perco shook his head and tried to clear it. It took a while to adjust to the different atmosphere, going from terraformed to ship to artificial and back. The medical colonies were stuck on artificial satellites all over the ‘verse. They were a sort of neutral ground; anyone who sought out medical care could get it with the understanding that no arrests, bounty pick-ups, or assassinations would occur on site. 

“How long have I been asleep?”

“A couple hours. Tab said he had to drag your ass out of bed yesterday.”

“Yesterday? Shit. Already.”

Spina nodded. “Malarkey’s right then, you’re getting all distracted. If you can’t remember a simple time change calculation.”

“No one asked you, Ralph.”

Spina leaned back on the opposite bed, his boots clacking together as he swung his feet. Perco tried not to flinch as he was studied. All the healers were shot up with some coding shit that made it easy for them to discern a patient’s condition. Couple that with the natural empathy in most healers and it made them damn near psychic. 

“I suggest you do some deep thinking while you’re here, Perco. That _clean up_ you did alerted all of the Corporate’s watchdog and mercenary ships. You’re ordered to lay low for the next month. Everyone’s been called back here, even Dominguez, who was halfway to friggin’ New Roosevelt.”

“He finally got that hyperdrive then,” Perco said. Dominguez had been trading various goods on side jobs for years to get that damn engine. At least somebody was accomplishing their goals out here.

Spina hopped off the bed and held out a hand. “Come on, Frank. The sooner we get more brains on this case, the quicker you’ll get home. As much as I appreciate all the extra hands to change the bedpans, I don’t want you fuckers here for half-a-cycle. I don’t think we’ve got enough supplies to handle all the brawls Lieb and Babe will start in the commissary.”

Perco laughed even as he took Spina’s hand. Even though Lieb and Babe were trained fighters, they never turned down a chance to scrap. They said it kept their skills up just in case they got dropped in a jail cell again.

Often times it was just as dangerous to work for Nixon as it was for the Corporation.

“You think Buck did this?” he asked.

Spina was silent until they got behind the protective glass of the deck lift. “I think,” he said, pulling on his hat, “that Buck may have put out an order and it got fucked up. I can’t see him purposefully setting out to hurt any of our crew. Teach us a lesson, sure? But fuck, Tipper’s already lost an eye and he’ll be lucky to even _walk_ again. Buck’s smarter and knows better, that hurting the low-levels will do nil to someone like Nixon. Winters won’t like anyone getting wounded, but Nixon, for all his faults, is a hell of a business man. He knows he’ll always have a pool of new employees.”

He dropped his head and took a deep breath. 

“Buck’s not that stupid. He wants victory, but not in blood or on the backs of young men he respects.”

“You sure know a lot, Spina.”

His smile was small, but it was there. “Who do you think helped Roe when we had to sew up those four new holes in Buck’s ass? You get to know a man, what he really values, when you’ve got a scalpel that close to his balls.”

Everyone on the main deck turned to stare them down as Perco’s loud laugh filled the room.

****************************

The medical colony had a communication and intel room that rivaled the Tripartite’s. Renee LeMarie had the keys and the control to the room and the _only_ person she trusted with all access was Anna. It was Renee’s medical colony after all; Spina and Roe used it as their main outpost, but Renee’s name was on the deed, Anna’s as well, and trying to get either one of them to willingly hand over access to the room was damn near impossible. 

The situation called for drastic measures. Luckily, Babe was always willing to throw himself into a wall if it meant he’d get some focused attention from Roe.

“You’re two steps away from boiling a bunny,” Luz said. He was supporting Babe who had a dislocated shoulder and jaw.

Babe couldn’t say much, he just rolled his eyes. At least he got the reference though, they all did after Luz’s last mandatory attendance film fest.

“Why can’t you just ask for access like a normal person,” Luz asked Perco.

Perco held up Babe’s other side, trying his damnedest to keep pace. “I _did_ ask, but Renee keeps blowing me off claiming other priorities and shit.”

“And you can’t use the ship comms because Julian’s taking them all apart looking for bugs and plants,” Luz said.

“Right,” he agreed. “So, now we’re going to bother Roe, after Babe’s so kindly volunteered to break his pretty face, and we’re going to sit back and watch the Doc’s temper get done what polite inquires won’t.”

Luz grimaced. “You know, you’re going to be pissing off Roe and Renee big time, especially once they find out it’s a scam.”

“It’s not a scam,” Babe mumbled. “I’m kind of in a lot of fucking pain right now.”

“It’s not like it’s unheard of for Babe to get his face smashed in,” Perco said. “It’s a weekly occurrence at this point.”

“You’re that fucking desperate for contact with your pet project that you’re willing to throw your old friends under the bus, nice, Perco.”

“Luz, I swear to god,” Perco cursed. 

“What the hell did you dumb fools do,” Doc Roe demanded. He’d clearly just come out of his bunk, wearing yesterday’s clothes and a whole body posture of exhausted.

Babe tried to smile but it was an act of complete and utter failure and pain.

“For fuck’s sake,” Roe muttered. He shoved Perco out of the way and took up Babe’s other side. “Heffron, what the hell am I supposed to do with you.”

Luz turned his head back to Perco and wiggled his eyebrows. Babe just whimpered in answer.

“I swear to god, Heffron,” Roe said, dumping him on one of the empty beds. “It’s like you enjoy getting your ass whooped. I’m already beyond budget for pain killers and numbing agents this cycle.”

“Sorry, Doc,” Babe said. He couldn’t have looked more pathetic if he honestly tried.

“Shit,” Roe said, taking in Babe’s bowed head and painfully slumped shoulders. He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry, Edward. It’s just been a rough month. Don’t look to be letting up anytime soon.”

 _Edward_ , Perco mouthed at Luz.

Luz shrugged his shoulders and looked as baffled as he felt. _No one_ used Babe’s given name, not even his own siblings. 

Babe didn’t bitch when Roe started poking and prodding a bit tougher than necessary. Doc didn’t look happy though, especially when he pressed against the right side of Babe’s ribcage.

“You cracked your ribs, you dumb fuck,” Luz said before Doc could diagnose.

“I did not,” Babe said through a clenched jaw.

“Probably just bruised,” Roe said. He ran over to one of the scanners and brought up a series of commands. The string of curses that followed probably wasn’t proper operating procedure.

“Problems?” Luz asked.

“I think Julian fucked up our source code somehow. I need to see if any lab slots are open so I can get a proper scan of Heffron’s chest.”

“I can go ask Anna to secure a space,” Perco offered. It’d get him in the comm room without pissing Doc off too bad. 

“Yeah, that’d work,” Roe agreed. “Thanks, Perco. We might have Heffron bandaged up just in time for his dinner time brawl.”

“It’s not like I do it on a schedule,” Babe said.

“No, it just happens that way,” Roe said.

Luz shook his head at the two of them. There was a running betting pool throughout the ‘verse when they’d both finally wake the fuck-up. After half a month locked up in the medical colony, everyone was waiting for Babe and Roe to just finally get it over with. Perco included. 

It took him nearly twenty minutes to find Anna and Renee. They were both knee deep in inventory and cursing in some pretty creative ways about all of them.

“It’s as if you are all incapable of going a single day without losing blood,” Renee said. 

“Yeah, Renee, about that,” he said.

She narrowed her eyes. “Who?”

“Heffron. Doc said he’s need a decent scan of his chest, but Julian’s fucked with the interface logs.”

Renee closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was obviously trying not to scream. Perco couldn’t blame her; it was one thing to provide shelter for a night, or a week, but looking at a month or more had to make her question the absence of any merciful god.

“I will handle it,” Anna said. She pressed a soft kiss to Renee’s hairline. “Why don’t you rest. I am sure Perco will gladly assist me with any other tasks.” She turned to study him. “Don’t think for a moment I can’t see this is your scheming act to get ahold of the comm room. All you had to do was ask. Still, I respect the bonds of brotherhood that sees one of you get his ass handed to him for the other.”

Renee buried her head in Anna’s hair to cover up her laughter.

“I _did_ ask,” he argued.

“But not politely,” Renee said.

“Or with a bribe,” Anna said. She shook her head. “Honestly, Perco, it’s almost as if you’ve forgotten how the world works.”

He knew better than to argue the point with those two. 

***********************

After a week of bribing Anna for time in the comm room and Skip’s vague answers about O’Keefe’s whereabouts, Perco was a little pissed off.

Okay, a whole hell of a lot.

“You don’t know where he is? What the fuck does that mean, Skinny?” he yelled at the screen.

“I think that means he can’t locate our dear friend Patrick,” Luz said.

Perco glared at him. “No shit.”

Skinny looked bored and blinked at him very slowly. “Just like I explained _yesterday_ , Skip sent him out on a job. A simple trash run. If the kid can’t survive a courier job, then it’s best for _all_ of us to find out now.”

“We’re on lockdown at a medical colony at the ass-end of nowhere, but you’re sending rookies out there unsupervised,” Perco said.

“He’s not unsupervised,” Skinny said. “Toye and Guarnere are with him.”

“Oh, that should make him feel loads better. Thanks, Skinny,” Luz said.

Skinny laughed. “I try. Look, you know we’ve got to assume that the Corporation jackholes have profiles on everyone who set foot in the Carentan district. You’ve got another week at most until Webster finished his current hack job. He’d doing some copy/replace out of Dickens’ novels or some shit. Just sit tight a little longer.” He cut off the comm line before they could reply.

“He’s turned into more of a bastard over the years,” Luz said.

Perco huffed in agreement. “You can practically see the bullshit rolling off him on the screen.”

Luz dragged him to the commissary for a decent meal. They’d just restocked the other night, so there were actual fresh vegetables, meat, and eggs. It was a luxury no one was willing to pass up and the tables were packed. They squeezed in between Lieb and Dominguez on one side, and Babe and Tab on the other.

“So, any word?” Babe asked.

Babe grimaced as he shifted. His shoulder was still in a sling. Perco thought it was a bit of overkill, but Roe was probably desperate to do anything that would keep him from throwing a punch. Though, as McClung so helpfully pointed out, Babe still had two well-working legs. 

“Skinny said he’d sent the kid out on his first trash run,” Luz said. “I’m guessing a courier job, but who the hell knows. Skip gets those ideas in his head and makes Penky go along with them. For all we know, new boy’s already gone and got himself infiltrated in the Corporation.”

Perco’s jaw clenched even thinking about it. It wasn’t outside the realm of possibility, especially with recent developments. 

“Shifty was pushing for that,” Babe explained to the others. “He’s convinced the kid’s a perfect suit-and-tie mole.”

“I’d say he’s pretty damn perfect if he’s one of those pampered fucks from Ivy City,” Lieb agreed.

“He can’t help where he was born,” Perco argued. “His family’s fallen, Lieb. They’ve lost everything they know. And the kid’s with us, sticking his neck out and risking his life. You got to respect that.”

“I don’t have to respect shit,” Lieb said. “I don’t give respect de facto, you know that Perco. Besides, it’s going to take more than one sob story to make me feel for the privileged fuck-ups who helped destroy half of the damn galaxy.”

Perco couldn’t really argue with that, so he dropped his head and dug into his salad. 

Conversation changed to the newest ship prototypes and the newest phaser gun models. The food wasn’t the only luxury here; it’d been too damn long since they all shared a meal without the sky burning overhead. 

************************

“Perco, get your ass up,” Tab hissed in his ear.

“Fuck, again.”

Tab laughed. “We’re free, you asshole. Malarkey just recalled us. Well, you and Luz are going back to Serafina, but we finally get to leave.”

“No shit,” Luz said, from the bunk above.

“No shit,” Tab agreed.

“Well, what are we waiting for, boys,” Luz said. He jumped down from his bunk. He had his bags out of the hold before Perco was even out of bed.

“Got somewhere to be?” Tab asked.

Luz shrugged. “I don’t trust Jay to water my plants.”

Tab laughed. He pulled them both into quick hugs. “I’ll miss you two.”

“Don’t be a stranger, Tab,” Luz said.

Perco nodded. “We could always use you around Serafina.”

There was a whole long ass round of hugs, goodbyes, and paying off of gambling debts before they boarded their ships. Babe, Tipper, and Alley were staying behind until they were fully healed. Dominguez and McClung had already been handed their next job. Tab and Julian were off to track down a lead on the new explosive. Only Lieb was flying back with them.

Days had passed and it was dark by the time they landed at the Tripartite’s docking bay. Kitty was there to meet them. She had a mission packet for Lieb.

“Welcome home,” Lieb muttered before grabbing it.

Kitty smirked. “You had a month off. Suck it up, Joe.”

She turned to him and Luz. “You two can go home.”

“What about O’Keefe?” he asked.

“He’s on a job,” she said. “No need for you guys to waste time here. You need to go back to Serafina. Jay’s been working his ass off to cover all the jobs. There’s no reason to stay here when there’s work there.”

“ _No reason_ ,” he said.

“Christ, Perco, O’Keefe’s not here. He passed his gauntlet training and his first two courier jobs. He’s intel gathering now. We’ll send him back to Serafina when he’s done. Go _home_.”

“That’s not a request, I take it,” Luz said, backing him up.

“Go,” Kitty said, shooing them with one perfectly manicured hand. 

“Can we at least get a ride to the main dock?” he asked.

Kitty tilted her head and smiled at them. “You know better than that.”

“Offuckingcourse,” Luz muttered. “What about the shit we left here.”

“Already sent back home.”

“I’m not feeling the love here, Kitty,” Luz said.

“Seriously, did we piss someone off?” he asked.

Kitty snorted. “Between the daily demands for updates and taking part in the devastation of the Carentan district, I’d say yeah.”

 

“Hey, those were orders,” he said.

She rolled her eyes. “And how well did that turn out for any of us?”

Luz shifted himself between the two of them. “Perco, let’s just go before Kitty decides to turn us into newts.”

“I’m sure you would get better,” she said.

Perco looked between the two of them, not getting the joke.

Luz slung an arm around his shoulder and patted him on the back. “No culture with this one, I tell ya.”

“Keep your eyes open,” Kitty yelled after them. She never said goodbye. It was always too final for Kitty, and something too often repeated in her life. A warning though, she’d always give that.

They both waved at her before taking the exit road. It was a hell of a lot easier to exit the Tripartite than enter, and there were on the city streets before midnight.

“Kitty seem a little paranoid to you?” he asked.

Luz kicked a loose rock. “I think everyone is right now, Perco. Shit’s changing and no one, not us, not the Corporation, are going to be the same.”

********************

Jay greeted them with a string of curses and a fight.

Perco watched in fascinated horror as Jay took a punch to the gut and stumbled into the corner. There was a giant pulling out their comm units in the office.

“Can we help you?” Luz asked.

Perco tried hard not to laugh at Luz’s perfectly polite tone.

“Brad Colbert with Nixon Networks. I’m here to review your recent ship manifests.”

“The hell you are,” Perco said. “Hand over your authorization codes.”

Colbert looked at them as if they were insects. “I already handed them to your colleague there, but he refused to check them.”

“Maybe because you fucking invited yourself inside,” Jay said, holding his ribs. “Do you fucking know where we are? You don’t pick locks around here and expect people to just stand for it.”

“I told you who I was,” Colbert said.

“And if you work for Nixon you’d know that words are worth shit these days,” Luz said. He walked over to one of the hidden comm units and punched in the line for Nixon.

Perco slipped under Colbert’s arms and put himself in front of the comm unit. He gestured to the half-broken chair behind them. “Please, sit down, take a break.”

“Back the fuck away from the comm unit,” Colbert said. “I get it.”

“I figured you would.”

Colbert was definitely a former military man. He acted like Shifty, a hair trigger away from fatal action. The obvious limp in his left leg and the scars over his hands clearly pointed to the reason he was no longer serving the Corporation’s army. Hell, he might have been on the rebel side, but he looked like an Ivy City boy. 

“How’d you get involved with Nixon?”

“I followed my pilot,” Colbert said. He didn’t give any other information. He looked bored at it all.

“Do you even care that Jay could’ve killed you when he found you here?”

That got Colbert’s attention. Or rather, his pride. “He should’ve taken the shot when he had the chance.”

“I’m not in the manner of killing stupid little shits.”

“I was an obvious intruder. I wasn’t even subtle about it. At the very least, you could’ve made a wounding shot. Instead, I’m sitting here, sweating my IQ points away while you’re over there holding your ribs together. I think I can live with those results.”

Luz walked back into the main room. “Winters vouched for him, he’s legit. Though I’m asked to remind you to call before you drop by again.”

Colbert pointed to the office door. “Your sign says you’re open at 8, it was already past 10 when I finally lost my patience. Bad business practices shouldn’t be rewarded.”

“You’re a jackass,” Luz said, “but I kind of like you.” He pulled out a stack of blank drives. “You may _copy_ the manifests and the mission plans, but our comm units are staying in the wall. Where they are supposed to live nice and happy without getting ripped out by the Big Unfriendly Giant.”

Colbert grabbed one of the drives and made a face. “I forgot that I’m at the bumfuck ass-end of nowhere and this is what you crossbred dwellers consider modern technology.”

“I can get you a pen and a pad of paper instead,” Perco said. 

“This’ll do,” Colbert said. 

It was quiet in the office while he went to work. They watched his every move.

“You know,” Colbert said, “I met one of your boys at HQ. O’Keefe? He implied that you three were entertaining and decent company. I’m going to have to call him a liar the next time we cross paths.”

“What was he doing at HQ?” Perco asked.

“Meeting with Winters. That’s Penkala’s career-track for him, right? For the Ivy City boy to work at Winters’ side. O’Keefe’s daddy could provide plenty of insider trade information.”

“Well that was fast,” Luz said. “The least Skip could’ve done was buy him dinner first.”

Jay rolled his eyes. “Skip had me working my first job a week into training. They fucking dropped me on Gloucester and made me figure out my own way home. I guarantee you that’s what he did to O’Keefe.”

“He didn’t pull that shit with me,” Perco said.

“Yeah, well, you’re not an outsider, Perco,” Jay said. “O’Keefe’s still got to prove himself. They need to know he _won’t_ be a liability. All the talk about brotherhood and a thieves’ code means fuck all when it comes down to our livelihood.” Jay ruffled his hair. “Look, Perco, you knew when you brought him to the Tripartite that they weren’t going to risk all just because _you_ now have something to lose.”

Colbert leaned back in his chair. “O’Keefe wasn’t a total liar, then. You ladies are far more entertaining than I imagined.”

“Kiss my ass, Colbert,” Jay said.

Colbert waved him off. “I’d rather not throw my back out by trying to bend down that far.”

***********************

It was a blistering hot day on Serafina when O’Keefe came home. He looked good, tanned and smiling, filled out and slightly dirty.

Luz was the first to welcome him home. He took him in a bear hug and lifted him off the ground.

“Where the hell were ya?” 

O’Keefe laughed. “They dropped me off at the Garden and told me to find my way home.”

Perco felt his breath catch in his throat. The Garden was a desert planet. It was once full of vegetation and life, the first of the successful terraforming projects. Then the war happened, it was over-used as a resource planet, and was now nothing but an arid landscape and a few ore mines on the still viable corners. 

“How the hell did you pull that one off?” Jay asked.

O’Keefe ducked his head. “There was a major desert race going on. No one said I couldn’t get help getting home. I agreed to help the team with repairs to their tracker and they covered my first round of fares to Gloucester. I ran into the crew of _The Vera_ there.”

“And they didn’t try to kill you?” Luz asked.

“Not when I promised to find a home for their dog. My sister took it in. She’s been wanting a pet.”

Perco shook his head and finally broke out of his stupor. He pulled Perco from Luz’s clutches. “You are one lucky Irish bastard,” he murmured into the soft curls at the nape of O’Keefe’s neck.

“Thanks, Frank,” he said. 

He let go of him, watched Jay take his bag and help him back in the house. He felt Luz study him for a moment. They exchanged a nod before Luz joined the group inside. Perco stayed outside and took a moment to center himself. Everything was slotting back into place. It felt different, not wrong. There was more to risk now, he got that. He’d spent the past three months pulling his hair out and calling in every contact and favor he could to get a line on O’Keefe. Maybe it helped, maybe it didn’t, but all that mattered was O’Keefe being home. He wasn’t just whole, he looked thriving, as if he finally felt right in his own skin. 

Perco couldn’t be too mad at the Tripartite or Shifty. He, especially, knew the measure of a man and how to make a boy grow up. The only person any of them could truly rely on was themselves, but if sure as hell felt good to have an equally-tested ally.

There was no guarantee any of them would see it to the end of the next annual cycle. It felt like war was coming, not just the hint of it, but an actual blaring siren. Perco was scared, and for the first time it was more than for himself, his family, or his best friends. He couldn’t help but be protective of O’Keefe, especially now, not when he could see the potential of him. Of them. 

Perco laughed to himself. Malarkey, the fucker, was right of course. He’d never admit it to his boss, but he was right. He ran a hand over his face and marched back inside. There were jobs to do, things to acquire, and communications to translate. All in a day’s work and with one extra set of hands now. 

He couldn’t help but be protective of O’Keefe but now that the boy had seen what was out there between the stars, he couldn’t very well hold him back. He’d just have to watch out for everyone else.


End file.
